Ryoga and Pchan
by Mike Fenton
Summary: Ranma decides to swap Pchan with a fake Pchan.


Ryoga and P-chan

---

summary: Ranma decides to swap P-chan with a fake, hell breaks  
loose, etc.

disclaimer: This story may adversely affect your enjoyment of Ranma  
1/2 if you have not read the entire series. Do not read while  
driving or under the influence of medication. Serious side-effects  
may include dizziness, vomiting, or spontaneous fiery decapitation.

---

Late one night at the Tendos, Ranma crept into Akane's room, quickly  
tearing her beloved P-chan from her arms as she slept. Akane continued  
to sleep soundly as Ranma held the piglet tightly.

Everyone, of course, knew that P-chan was actually just the cursed  
form of Ryoga. Everyone, that is, except for Akane. Everyone but Akane  
knew that Ryoga was madly in love with Akane and would debase himself  
most willingly to be held by Akane while she slept. It was pathetic  
and shameful, but what was even more shameful would be if Ranma was  
found by Akane in her room. Ranma did not want to be discovered any  
more than Ryoga wanted Akane to discover that he was actually P-chan.  
Ranma, prepared to face this dilemma, had a pot of water handy which  
he used to threaten Ryoga, as it would become Ryoga even less to be  
discovered naked in Akane's room in the middle of the night.

Ryoga, or P-chan rather, sneered at this amateur move by Ranma and  
boldly flung himself at the pot. Even as a piglet, Ryoga was still  
quite strong. Ryoga then shot around the room as Ranma cursed and  
attempted to lay hold of him again. After a few failed attempts,  
Ranma restrained P-chan firmly again, just barely avoiding waking  
Akane in the process.

"Sorry, P-chan," Ranma snarled quietly. "But I'm not lettin' you off  
easy anymore. Time for you to go outside."

Ranma made sure the window was still open and prepared to hurl P-chan  
out into the night, then thought better of it. He decided to reach  
out and snag the cage that he'd conveniently placed outside on the  
balcony. P-chan almost came loose again, but Ranma struggled to keep  
both P-chan and the cage in his grasp, tripping over the pot of hot  
water with some rather noisy thuds, crashes and a few curses.

Despite ending up in a tangled heap of the hot water, the pot, a bit  
of the drapes, P-chan (who continued squirming violently), and the  
cage, Ranma somehow managed to keep everything together and silently  
marveled that none of it had awakened Akane. Akane, however, was  
starting to thrash around a bit, grasping around for her pet P-chan.

Ranma held P-chan so he could see this, and he remarked softly,  
"It's a real pity P-chan, but in all that dashing around, you  
somehow managed to lose your headband."

P-chan was suddenly very still as he seemed to notice with stunned  
amazement that he wasn't wearing his trademark headband. Ranma  
smirked as he held it up by his toes while using a hand to open the  
cage. Ranma then deftly brought out another piglet from the cage  
and used his foot to put the headband onto the other piglet. Then,  
smooth as could be, Ranma placed the piglet within grasp of Akane  
just as she was reaching out for it. Ranma smiled in delight as  
Akane wrapped her arms around the terrified piglet.

Ranma allowed P-chan a few more moments of this, then booted him out  
the window. The switch made, he then carefully removed the cage out  
the window as well and was wondering how to handle all the spilled  
water when Kasumi suddenly knocked at the door.

"Akane," Kasumi said. "Is everything all right in there?"

Ranma decided to make haste and dove from the window. Akane  
stirred from her sleep and immediately stepped right into a puddle  
of water. Akane yelled in surprise, and Ranma couldn't help a grim  
smile of pleasure as he heard Akane accuse the fake P-chan of  
being a bad little pig who couldn't hold his water. He was then  
startled when he heard a loud thud and Kasumi shrieking in surprise.

"Ranma! You idiot!" came the booming voice of Akane from her room.

Ranma didn't stick around to wait for this mystery to be solved, but  
dashed away toward the nearest empty lot to hide. He slowly realized  
that he had left the pot behind in Akane's room, and it didn't  
require Akane to be a master of deduction to realize who had been to  
blame for leaving it there. He contented himself with having made  
the switch, and he hoped that the strange little pig would be  
cooperative. He hadn't counted on Ryoga waiting for him in the empty  
lot, ready to pound him.

As he slipped into feathery-soft unconsciousness, Ranma somehow felt  
certain that the switch of P-chan and fake P-chan had been a success.  
It was a bitter-sweet victory, but a victory nevertheless.

Ranma later felt that he may have gone a bit too far when he  
discovered himself at the bottom of a deep pit, his arms and legs  
bound behind him tightly.

---

Akane was too furious to sleep, yet somehow she was too tired to  
keep her eyes open. Fake P-chan seemed strangely upset and distant,  
so she also felt a little guilty about getting angry (thinking that  
P-chan was reacting in fear toward her, when he should have been  
more afraid of what Ranma was obviously trying to do--which made  
her even more furious at Ranma).

Akane kept grimacing and finding herself staring up at the ceiling  
wishing she could inflict some violent punishment on Ranma, then  
scolding herself for not going to sleep and closing her eyes again.

At one point she even bolted upright in bed (which made fake  
P-chan's eyes even wider than normal), looked at fake P-chan with a  
glare that would have sent a lion running and hiding, then slowly  
softened her expression to mild irritation. She then punched herself  
in the head and lay back down, flinging the covers around her in a  
great show of really trying to go back to sleep.

That morning, Akane sleepily went to breakfast and ate (with fake  
P-chan firmly clasped in her lap), went jogging in a daze, and  
hardly noticed when she returned that fake P-chan didn't seem to be  
there anymore.

P-chan had always been difficult to find most of the time, though he  
would unexpectedly turn up most of the time, as well. Of course, it  
never occurred to her that P-chan was not the same creature as fake  
P-chan, so Akane would blame Ranma for fake P-chan's relatively odd  
behavior. Ranma had always bullied P-chan (as far as Akane knew), so  
even if Ranma wasn't really to blame for this specific incident,  
Akane wouldn't feel too bad about inflicting undeserved punishment  
on Ranma for whatever was happening.

All the same, Akane knew she would just be scolded by Kasumi again  
if she reminded everyone of what had happened. Kasumi was somehow  
certain that Ranma being in Akane's room was Akane's fault and that  
Akane should really try harder to prevent Ranma from being in her  
room to begin with. When Akane objected, Kasumi had told her:

"No, Akane. Not again. You already know about Ranma's bad habits.  
It's up to you to keep yourself from being disturbed. This isn't  
like it's the first time this has ever happened."

At breakfast, Nabiki had added, "It's just normal boyish  
frustration, Akane. Honestly, why you have to be so childish and  
self-centered--"

To which, Akane said, "Damn it, Nabiki. I'm not a slut."

Nabiki then affected a look of innocence and left Akane to stew in  
her resentful guilt.

Akane had had breakfast, had jogged, and was comfortably washing  
off in the bathroom. The weekend and its promise of freedom and  
adventure beckoned, but still she felt the bitter hand of sleep  
deprived madness yearning to seize her psyche like a curse. To her  
credit, Akane did a very good job of fighting it off until she was  
interrupted a few moments later.

---

When Ryoga had discovered that he had somehow managed to return to  
the Tendo home that morning, he was filled with joy. A few moments  
later, he discovered Akane with fake P-chan in her lap, and was  
briefly torn inside about how to handle this situation.

Ryoga was always nothing if not completely honest with himself, even  
at great expense to himself. First and foremost, he had to admit  
that he had no great love of magically turning into a piglet because  
of something stupid and thoughtless Ranma had done to him some time  
ago. That was a debt of honor which needed to be repaid, and every  
moment between now and when he settled that was like grinding  
humiliation. It didn't help that Ranma's attitude was cheerfully  
scorning indifference to Ryoga's complaints.

In spite of this painful blow to his pride, he could always rest in  
the relative comfort of Akane's steadfast support, and he even  
amazed himself at how deeply he felt affection toward her. He had to  
admit that he had become very possessive of her affections, even if  
he had to resort to becoming a piglet to obtain them.

Still, it could only be viewed as a further source of humiliation  
that he would lower himself to be the rival of a piglet, and Ranma  
would never let him live it down. Ultimately, Ranma would taunt him  
and Ryoga would be able to say nothing in his own defense.

When Akane went out jogging, Ryoga realized that he had a chance to  
correct this situation. He began to think about sneaking away with  
fake P-chan and running him off in some random direction when he was  
struck by a wild idea.

What if he presented himself at the same time as the fake P-chan? If  
he was careful to avoid being hit by cold water (and he had done  
this many times before) he wouldn't have to worry about explaining  
his mysterious absence anytime P-chan was around to Akane. It never  
occurred to him that Akane had never noticed this mysterious  
conjunction of events, but he worried about it constantly.

For several minutes, Ryoga stood outside the Tendo home holding the  
fake P-chan while he played through one scenario after another,  
trying to imagine the best way to casually make it appear that he  
and P-chan were two different creatures while somehow getting Akane  
to go out on a date with him.

"Hello, Akane," he would say. "Nice day for a date..."

"Oh, Akane. There you are. I was wondering if you'd mind... No, that  
sounds too wimpy."

"Good morning, Akane. Want to go to the movies with me? Ugh, that  
just sounds pathetic..."

In spite of the fact that Ryoga could deeply appreciate the most  
subtle shadings of his own circumstances, he had an unfortunate lack  
of appreciation for the benefits of internal dialogue. For several  
more minutes, Ryoga stood and spoke to himself, completely unaware  
of how Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun Tendo were watching him in pitying  
amazement.

It soon became painfully piteous for them to continue watching,  
especially when Nabiki said, "I think he doesn't even realize he's  
speaking out loud."

Moments after the others had returned to their morning routine,  
Ranma suddenly appeared on the roof, holding a bucket. He unleashed  
a fierce blast of cold water right on top of Ryoga. Ranma then  
immediately kicked P-chan into the sky, and picked up fake P-chan.

"No, thanks," Ranma said, mimicking Akane in a somewhat more squeaky  
tone than Akane would use. "I have no intention of going out with a  
loser like you."

Ranma then laughed heartily and barely noticed when fake P-chan bit  
his hand. The pain slowly traveled to his brain, and when it hit,  
he dropped fake P-chan in surprise. Fake P-chan ran off, squealing  
in terror.

It took a few more moments for Ranma to realize that fake P-chan was  
escaping, and that that would render all his efforts from the  
previous night a waste. Unwilling to let Ryoga off the hook, Ranma  
dashed off after fake P-chan.

After a wild chase around the neighborhood, Ranma finally caught up  
with the piglet. Having focused his attention on catching the  
piglet, he never noticed the musing and mortified stares of various  
neighbors, nor did he notice when Ryoga began to pursue him.

Regardless, Ranma did feel his danger sense tingling, so he wasn't  
completely defenseless against Ryoga's initial forays. Ryoga  
continued the assault, relentlessly punching and kicking at Ranma  
while Ranma dodged and ran.

Down the street Ranma ran, keeping his grasp on the terrified fake  
P-chan till he had reached the Tendo backyard, where he lost his  
grip again. Now, both Ranma and Ryoga went after the piglet, but  
neither of them could lay hold of him and fight off the other.

A sudden rain storm didn't help matters. Ryoga had been prepared,  
whipping out his usual protection, while Ranma changed to girl-type.

As Ranma watched on in stunned amazement, Ryoga scooped up the  
piglet with one hand while holding his stupidly heavy umbrella with  
the other. Ryoga then started sprinting toward the Tendo home, in  
total defiance of all logic Ranma could grasp. Moments later, Ranma  
ran after Ryoga again.

---

Soun Tendo continued reading the paper, and Kasumi served him tea.  
Nabiki returned to the table, muttering about the weather.

"Hmm?" Soun said, glancing up at Nabiki over the paper.

"The weather is turning," Nabiki replied. "Why does it have to rain  
on the weekend?"

Soun returned to his newspaper, wistfully thinking about days in his  
youth when weekends meant something a little different than what  
Nabiki was used to.

Sure enough, lightning flashed, and rain began to pour, just as the  
subject was turning that way. Soun thought of a haiku and lit a  
cigarette just as he opened the door to the backyard. The haiku and  
the cigarette had roughly the same effect on the sudden turmoil in  
his mind when he saw Ryoga dashing up toward them--Ranma right at  
his heels.

Soun Tendo had always felt like his life was in control, and there  
was a deep, spiritual meaning to his existence. Since Ranma had  
appeared, however, that meaning was fading away. There was possibly  
a time when Soun would have thought that the sacred barrier of one's  
own home would not be breached by ill will unless he himself had  
invited it in.

When Ryoga burst into the house, for a moment it seemed that he was  
heedless of his error. A moment later, he turned and attempted to  
properly greet Soun Tendo, "Oh hello, Mr. Tendo. Sorry to intrude--"

Ranma was not affected by any notion of ceremony, but immediately  
tackled Ryoga in his attempt to take away fake P-chan. Ryoga and  
Ranma wrestled around on the floor for a few moments while the  
others stared on in shock.

"Oh my," Kasumi said.

"Daddy," Nabiki said. "Why are Ranma and Ryoga fighting over a pig?"

"Hmm," Soun replied, scratching his chin in thought.

The piglet slipped away, but Ranma and Ryoga chased after it. The  
piglet blindly fled down the hallway, and before anyone realized it,  
the three were in the wash room, struggling for control of this  
situation.

Akane appeared a moment later, wrapped in a towel, and immediately  
sorted things out by nailing Ranma with a vicious uppercut,  
scooping up fake P-chan, and returning to her bath with a curt  
snap of the sliding door.

Nabiki and Kasumi, who had witnessed this incident from the safety  
of the hallway, had a long confused moment when they tried to solve  
the meaning of this event.

"Wasn't that P-chan?" Nabiki asked, as Ryoga began to emerge.

"It couldn't have been," Kasumi said, then immediately reversed  
herself, "Err... could it have?"

Ryoga, slowly coming to the realization that he needed to say  
something, answered, "Good morning. I hope we didn't make too  
much of a mess." Ryoga laughed nervously.

"Well, if it wasn't P-chan," Nabiki continued, "then why was Ranma  
fighting with Ryoga over it?"

Kasumi pondered that for a moment, then noticed Ryoga. She instantly  
collected herself and said, "Oh my. Ryoga. Excuse us for being so  
rude, but do you want to join us for breakfast?"

"I would hate to impose..." Ryoga politely answered.

"Nonsense," Kasumi said, completing the ritual invitation. "We  
insist you stay and have something with us."

"Well, if you insist..." Ryoga said, returning to the living room  
again, as Ranma collapsed in a heap where she had fallen.

Nabiki stood in the hallway for a few more moments, then hit her  
palm in realization. "Oh," she said. "I think I get it."

---

Seeing fake P-chan again made Akane forget all about her anger  
toward Ranma, and she hugged the piglet tight. It squirmed with  
fear and fought to be free of her for a minute while she patted  
it and soothed it with words of comfort.

"Oh, P-chan," she then said, "You're so dirty. I'll bet you've  
never had a proper bath."

The piglet naturally fought to avoid the hot water, but Akane made  
sure to hold him still and to get him nice and clean. By the time  
she had finished, she was in a much better mood, though she was  
still very tired. She really couldn't recall having ever properly  
bathed and scrubbed P-chan, so it cheered her immensely to see him  
looking so clean and healthy.

She even took a moment to retie the headband around fake P-chan's  
neck to complete the picture, and sighed with contentment.

When Akane had returned to the living room, she seemed to radiate  
with goodwill, and the change from her previous mood hit the others  
like a physical blow. She immediately sat at the table again,  
sitting just to Ryoga's left, holding fake P-chan in her lap. She  
even had the nerve to appear confused when the others looked at her  
with some small measure of surprise.

Nabiki didn't seem surprised for too long, and quickly returned to  
her magazine. Soun realized that his mouth was hanging open, so he  
cleared his throat and returned to reading the paper. Ryoga was a  
bit more nervous than usual, and it seemed impossible that he could  
stammer out anything in casual salute of Akane's presence.

Kasumi fought the urge to interject in her usual way, and said,  
"It's a pity the weather is so bad, today. I've been meaning to try  
out the new food stands near the park."

"Me too," Akane said, happy to have something nice she could say.

"Business is probably slow," Kasumi added. "I'm sure they would be  
grateful to have some customers."

"That's true," Akane said, still beaming.

"It's too bad there's no one to escort you," Kasumi said. "I know  
how you like to say that you don't worry about that sort of thing,  
Akane, but it would ease my mind."

Nabiki smirked as she witnessed Ryoga struggling to include himself  
in the conversation.

"I really don't worry," Akane said, "but it would be nice if there  
was someone I could go with."

"It would be such a waste, even on a day like today," Kasumi added,  
"to have to go alone."

Kasumi and Ryoga seemed about to speak up, when Akane naturally  
blurted something that had just occurred to her. "I have an idea, if  
you don't mind."

Ryoga stammered to a halt and Kasumi smoothly replied, "No, go  
ahead."

Akane was about to speak for a moment, then held up fake P-chan.  
"P-chan," she said, "calm down. I haven't forgotten about you."  
She set him back on her lap again, and patted him. "Poor P-chan,"  
she added. "I think Ranma totally scared the wits out of him."

"Last night, you mean?" Kasumi asked.

"Yeah," Akane replied. "I don't know what Ranma's problem is. Always  
torturing poor P-chan for no reason. What in the world could he have  
against a pig?"

"Beats me," Kasumi said.

"Oh, but never mind about that," Akane said. "It just occurred to me  
that I've got a perfect escort sitting right next to me."

"Oh, really?" Kasumi said.

Akane was about reply to that, but paused for a second to notice  
that Kasumi had said something a little out-of-character. Kasumi  
smiled in a strange, knowing way, and Akane continued, "It just  
seemed to me that Ryoga would be the perfect escort on a day like  
today."

Ryoga was overwhelmed by the faith Akane was putting in him by  
saying that, and he nearly fainted dead away.

"I mean," Akane continued, "Ryoga is a gentleman, unlike a certain  
other person I could mention."

For a few moments, Ryoga digested that blissfully, then quickly  
recovered. "Please feel free to let me escort you," Ryoga said,  
making it clear by his direction, that he was including Kasumi in  
the offer.

Kasumi waved away the offer, "Oh my, please don't feel you need to  
drag me along. I was only being concerned for Akane's sake."

"Are you sure?" Ryoga asked her, and Kasumi gestured so.

Just then, Ranma (still girl-form) appeared and said, "Have a good  
time, Akane." The way she said it, however, was dripping with  
sarcasm.

Akane lifted P-chan as she stood, and said, "We will." A moment  
later, Ryoga took the hint and stood to escort Akane. He made sure  
to smirk for a moment at Ranma as he did so, and Ranma scornfully  
stuck her tongue at Ryoga and Akane.

When Akane and Ryoga had left, Ranma sat at the table, asking, "So,  
anything left to eat?"

Kasumi measured a slight disapproving look, then went to fetch  
something from the kitchen as Nabiki looked up from her magazine.

"Ranma," Nabiki said. "How long do you intend to keep that fake  
P-chan around?"

"Fake?" Ranma answered in a perfectly innocent tone. "Whatever made  
you think P-chan was fake?"

Nabiki snorted and grimaced. "Never mind," she said, then returned  
to her magazine.

---

Ryoga and Akane walked along the streets to sidewalk shops in the  
pouring rain, Akane holding fake P-chan and silently filling the  
world of Ryoga's hopes with more brightness than he had imagined  
possible.

Akane had certainly never told Ryoga that she liked him or that  
there was ever anything more than friendship to be gained in their  
relationship, yet Ryoga's intuition insisted that his feelings  
were not paradoxical. Akane was not masking a nervous affection  
toward Ranma--that, he was certain of. Circumstances had sometimes  
thrusted those two together, but circumstances could never replace  
geniune attraction. In fact, familiarity often bred contempt between  
Ranma and Akane beyond what Ryoga would have imagined possible for  
two people.

Looking at Akane now in the harsh contrast of rainy weather and the  
sharp awareness that a careless slip of gusty rain would end this  
outing brought home to Ryoga the intensity of his own feelings, and  
he could not imagine how Akane could not notice. He gave her no  
indication of all this, but was content to be next to her.

If Akane was aware, she gave no indication of anything other than  
her cheerfulness. Unlike so many times that she had merely followed  
or had led Ranma around, being in the company of Ryoga was not like  
a parent with an unruly child. It was more like the company she had  
witnessed between two adults.

They came to a shop, and Ryoga gladly found some money to pay for  
a few treats. It was at about that time when the rain slacked off a  
little, which seemed to them to be a kind of invitation.

Akane giggled because she realized that she had been silent the  
entire way to the shop, and it seemed very strange even to her.

"Sorry," she said. "I've had my mouth shut the whole time, and you  
were probably getting nervous, huh?"

"No," he answered. "It's all right. I'm really enjoying this."

"Really?" Akane seemed doubtful.

Ryoga chuckled nervously, about to weakly apologize until he was  
interrupted.

"I would have thought you'd be in the mood for some action," she  
insisted.

Ryoga laughed at that suggestion, then said, "Oh, no. I really hate  
fighting."

"Why is that?" Akane seriously didn't understand.

"Well..." Ryoga thought for a moment. "It really hurts. I don't see  
why anyone would want to fight unless they had to."

Akane looked at Ryoga as if she were looking at him for the first  
time. "That's interesting," she said.

Ryoga seemed perplexed by that reaction for a moment, but then had  
a bizarre flash of insight. Akane was not used to the notion of a  
man who was not eager for a fight. In fact, Akane had often accused  
Ranma of cowardice for saying things that were much the same as what  
Ryoga had just admitted. Oddly, Akane was now viewing Ryoga with  
admiration for the same exact reasons she often viewed Ranma with  
disgust.

Before Ryoga could respond, Akane held out fake P-chan and said,  
"Look, Ryoga. Doesn't P-chan look a lot like you?"

Ryoga interrupted his own train of thought and took a look at fake  
P-chan. He then honestly said, "Yeah, now that I look at him. I can  
see the resemblance."

Akane smiled and added, "He even has your headband."

Ryoga laughed and said, "Wow, what a coincidence."

Akane hugged fake P-chan tightly, and Ryoga watched in shock,  
thinking for a moment that he wished that he were that piglet. Then  
it slowly started to dawn on him that he would have to be extra  
careful not to reveal himself. The implications of Akane making  
that discovery were suddenly much more terrifying to him now.

Just as he recognized that thought, he also felt the approach of  
danger. With the delicate and expert touch of a world-class martial  
artist, he managed to use his umbrella to deflect a spray of water  
while also keeping both that water and the rain off himself and  
Akane. Sure enough, he looked toward the source of the water attack,  
and there was Ranma (still girl-type), holding a bucket and cursing  
silently to herself.

Ranma quickly disappeared again around a street corner while Akane  
growled in irritation. "Ranma!" she yelled, clenching her fists.

Ryoga chuckled and defused the situation, saying, "It's all right,  
Akane. Just Ranma and his silly pranks again. No harm done."

"He makes me so mad, sometimes," Akane complained. "Would you  
believe he invaded my room last night and tried to torture P-chan?"

"I seriously doubt that," Ryoga said, knowing full well what had  
really happened.

Akane grimaced and seemed about to defend her accusation, but she  
could get no further than, "But he-- That is, I..."

"Even Ranma," Ryoga continued, "wouldn't go that far." Ranma would  
go much further, he meant to say.

"You don't know Ranma like I do," Akane said. She immediately smiled  
and added, "Hey, I wonder..."

"What?" Ryoga asked.

"Does P-chan belong to you?" Akane asked. "It just occurred to me  
because he really does look a lot like you, and I never had any idea  
where he came from. I don't even know what his real name is."

Ryoga had a sick feeling in his stomach, as if he had just swallowed  
something poisonous, but he collected himself and replied, "He's not  
mine."

"Oh," Akane said, a little disappointed, then happy again. "I just  
thought it couldn't have been a coincidence."

Ryoga chuckled, thinking that he was sinking again.

Akane lightly punched herself in the head and said, "I'm so stupid.  
I mean, of course it's just a coincidence." She then chuckled, and  
they continued to stroll toward the next shop.

---

High above them, Ranma was perched on top of a building. She smiled  
grimly and told herself, "That's right, P-chan. Get yourself dug in  
nice and deep. But the moment you let your guard down..."

Ranma made a gesture like water exploding right in front of her  
along with a "splash" sound, then laughed villainously.

She then frowned and scolded herself, "It's not like I'm jealous or  
anything."

---

For the next ten minutes, Ranma attacked Ryoga again several times  
with water attacks. Each attack was less successful than the previous  
one, though Ranma tried attacking from every direction and with as  
many distractions and misdirections as were humanly possible.

Finally, Ranma attacked from ten different directions at once during  
an already violent gust of wind and pouring rain. Somehow, in all the  
spray of water flying in every conceivable direction Ryoga managed to  
prevent even a drop from hitting himself, though one of the water  
attacks did hit Akane square in the face. Ryoga was so confounded by  
the fact that he'd allowed some water to slip through that he  
completely failed to notice that he was leaning forward into the  
release end of a drain pipe.

Akane, who had been blinded by the water attack, did not notice when  
Ryoga magically transformed into a piglet. She continued to wipe  
water from her face as she noticed Ranma through the rain, then  
stared intently at Ranma with anger in her eyes. She might have  
found being hit by cold water to be mildly annoying, and she might  
have tolerated Ranma's childish persistence, but she could not  
tolerate Ranma causing fake P-chan to be frightened out of her  
grasp. For several moments, she could only clench her hands and  
glare.

Ranma stood outlined by flashing lightning, seeming to gloat in  
her usual obnoxious way just as she was crushed under the hooves a  
a giant pig. A few moments later, Ranma and Akane realized that  
Akari had appeared, riding the back of a giant pig.

"Ryoga!" Akari shouted above the storm, climbing down from her  
mount to collect a couple of piglets nearby.

It took another few moments for Akane to recall that Akari Unryu  
was the girl who had always been obsessed with pigs and was also  
interested in Ryoga. Akane had never put the two facts together  
until now, but seeing Akari holding the two piglets (both wearing  
the same head band around their necks) framed the impression in her  
mind very clearly.

---

When Ranma returned to the Tendo home, she expected Akane to still be  
upset, but Akane was in a cheerful mood.

Ranma even asked her, "Aren't you upset?"

"No," she answered. "Why should I be? I reunited P-chan and his  
owner, didn't I?"

"You did what?" Ranma asked, taken aback by Akane's odd reasoning.

"P-chan really belongs to Akari, doesn't he?" Akane insisted.

"I suppose," Ranma replied, scratching her head. "But aren't you  
curious how Ryoga disappeared the way he did?"

"What are you talking about, Ranma?" Akane said. "Ryoga was with me  
the whole time."

Ranma thought for a moment that Akane was not serious, but then she  
realized that of course Akane would not see another piglet and just  
assume that it had been Ryoga a moment ago.

Then, just as Ranma was about the press the issue, Ryoga showed up  
and punched Ranma in the head.

"That's right, Ranma," Ryoga said. "Akane and I were together the  
entire time." Ryoga handed fake P-chan to Akane and told her, "Akari  
said to say hi."

So, now the question of who P-chan really was seemed to be firmly  
settled, at least as far as Akane was concerned. She had been having  
some doubts about Ryoga, but her estimation of him had now been  
raised another notch.

As for Ranma, he was initially relieved that the switch had been a  
complete success, but he still worried that Ryoga might be making a  
last second switch with the fake P-chan right before bed time. He  
wasn't completely sure why it bothered him, but it did.

--- 


End file.
